Montgomery Village rape suspect sketch released

Montgomery County police have released a sketch of the Montgomery Village rape suspect, the latest incident made public as reports of rape continue to surge in the County. Detectives report that the white male suspect followed a woman after she got off a Ride On bus in the 19300 block of Watkins Mill Road Saturday night, April 20, around 10:15 PM. Realizing the man was following her, the victim began to run. The suspect then knocked the woman down, dragged her into a grassy area by the nearby woods, raped her, and fled.

The victim went home, and then to a local hospital, where the police were called. She identified the suspect to detectives as a white male in his late 20s, with brown hair. She said he is approximately 6-feet-tall, and weighs about 180 pounds. The suspect also has a tattoo behind his left ear, and was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. Based on the sketch, the sweatshirt has a hood.

Detectives are asking anyone who recognizes the suspect or who may have information about this rape to call the Special Victims Investigations Division at 240-773-5050.  Those who wish to remain anonymous may call Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers will pay a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information provided to their line that leads to an arrest and/or indictment for this crime.

Reports of rape skyrocketed by 53% in mid-2018, according to an official police department memo submitted to the County Council. Police recently reported that rapes had spiked 28% by the end of 2018. The County Council has been silent on the surge in rapes in Montgomery County, and their allies in the local press colluded to silence the topic during the 2018 Council election. I was outspoken on the importance of the issue during the campaign, and my words have been vindicated by the continued increase in reports of rape.

Wake up, folks! Public indifference, and the propagandizing Pravda-style media coverage of County government, are perhaps the biggest challenges we face. The people of Montgomery County need to avail themselves of the information being provided by this Suburban News Network website, start asking why the Council has failed to take action, and begin intelligently voting for councilmembers who will actually take the problem of violence against women seriously.

12 Stories opening at The Wharf: D.C. is doing what moribund MoCo won't for nightlife

Montgomery County is still reeling from the collapse of its nighttime economy following the County Council's disastrous Nighttime Economy Task Force initiative. Where there were crowds on sidewalks and corners outside of downtown Bethesda's nightclubs and bars prior to the initiative, 16 nightspots have shuttered since the task force debacle. Many other businesses slashed or eliminated their late-night hours. Downtown Bethesda sidewalks now grow empty and quiet after 9 or 10 PM. Thousands of young professionals have taken their wallets and purses to the District for nightlife since, including to The Wharf, where an exciting new rooftop will open tonight.

I recommended years ago that Montgomery County put incentives and requirements for nightlife, including rooftop nightclubs at the new hotels being approved for urban areas like downtown Bethesda. Those suggestions fell on deaf ears at the Council and Planning Board, as of course, it is much cheaper to put up a hotel with a non-active roof use. Naturally, our developer-controlled Council and Planning Board never put the public before the developers, which is how we ended up with no replacement cineplex and no replacement Capital Crescent Trail tunnel under Wisconsin Avenue in the Apex Building redevelopment - even though the Council and Board held full authority to require both. Heckuva job, Brownie!

By contrast, the District is getting its latest rooftop nightspot tonight, April 17, 2019 with the debut of 12 Stories, high atop The InterContinental Hotel at The Wharf. The 3500 SF rooftop features spectacular views of the Potomac River, waterfront and Washington, D.C. We could have had something like this on top of the new hotels coming to Wisconsin Avenue here, but...the Council was too busy collecting developer checks, and debating a ban on circus animals instead.

Current and prospective MoCo bar and restaurant
owners said, "Yes, Yes, Yes!" to privatization of liquor
sales, but our cartel-controlled County Council said, "No, No, No!"

At 12 Stories at The Wharf tonight, 13-foot floor-to-ceiling windows will give you views of the Jefferson, Lincoln and Air Force Memorials, as well as the pinnacle of the Washington Monument and Hains Point. From the future Marriott hotel in downtown Bethesda, nighttime will give you lovely views of car dealerships and a concrete parking garage. So much winning!

The J Street Spritz at
12 Stories at The Wharf

Tonight at 12 Stories at The Wharf, you could be sipping a zero-degree “Superchilled Martini 24” and taking in the sweeping vistas of the Nation's Capital. Perhaps you would prefer a “J Street Spritz,” made with Tito’s Vodka, Amaro Nonino, lime juice, raspberries, Domaine Chandon and sparkling soda. It's enough to make Jack Evans bust out the old Constituent Fund.

All that's busting in Montgomery County is the County budget, in the red again this year, with residents facing yet another increase in property taxes. With what the Maryland Restaurant Association complained was a "flat" restaurant and bar market in Montgomery County, record numbers of closures, and profits declining in a business with thin margins already, we're losing nightlife spending and alcohol sales to the District and Virginia, thanks to our archaic County government-controlled liquor monopoly.

The Wharf Burger

Just some of that lost revenue will end up being spent in D.C. at 12 Stories, where brunch will be added in May to a windows-on-the-capital-of-the-free-world menu that tonight already features locally sourced oysters, a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich, and a ceviche-style crudo.

While Montgomery County's "leaders" turn to taxpayers again this year for yet another payday 4.8% property tax increase, the developers of The Wharf in D.C. turned to the Gerber Group, the geniuses behind NYC’s Mr. Purple, The Roof and The Campbell, and Atlanta's Whiskey Blue, "known for its signature elevated nightlife experience and top-notch food and beverage," it says.

Montgomery County's vision for an "elevated nightlife experience?" "More taxi stands [ever heard of Uber and Lyft, guys?], more buses," and continued total monopoly government control of liquor sales to restaurants, bars and the public. No wonder Montgomery County is at rock bottom in the region by every relevant economic development measure.

They blew it, folks.

Photos by Anna Meyer

Montgomery County on sidelines again as Indian software firm Zoho chooses Texas

Indian software firm Zoho has completed a nationwide search for the location of its new U.S. headquarters, and the winner is Austin, Texas, not Montgomery County. As is the case more often than not, there's no public indication that Montgomery even made any effort to recruit the company, much less mount a competitive bid. Zoho currently has a small customer service office in Austin with 60 employees, but when they relocate their current California U.S. HQ to Texas, they will ultimately host 500 jobs in a new, 100,000 SF office building, the Austin American-Statesman reported early this morning.

New interchange TXDOT
is building by the future site
of the Zoho HQ, one of
four to eliminate signaled
intersections and reduce congestion

Best of all, Austin didn't even have to put together an expensive package of giveaways to win the HQ. Zoho cited its employees' growing frustration with traffic congestion and expensive housing costs in California in its choice of Austin as an improvement. In researching the site of their new Austin HQ, I noticed they chose land on SH 71, which the Texas Department of Transportation says "serves as a major corridor for motorists traveling to and from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport." While Montgomery County's elected officials are actively fighting any attempt to increase highway capacity here, TXDOT has a whopping four projects to reduce congestion on SH 71 alone.

Google Maps shows how close the
Zoho HQ site will be to
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport,
a quick 7-minute drive

How important are highway access and infrastructure to economic development? They are critical. According to Google Maps, the site chosen by Zoho at SH 71 and Kellam Road is only 7 minutes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The need for easy airport access for an international firm like Zoho could not be provided in Montgomery County, thanks to the County Council blocking construction of the planned new Potomac River crossing to Dulles Airport. Heckuva job, Brownie!

A quick search finds flights from Austin-Bergstrom to a whopping 40 cities in India, including New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Imagine how significant that 7-minute access is for this India-based company, and its executives and sales team.

The Texas newspaper also reported that analysts see the Zoho decision as having benefits beyond the 500 jobs - and collateral economic activity and revenue - the HQ will generate. Because Zoho is an Indian firm and has offices around the world, Austin economist Angelos Angelou told the paper, “it could lead to the attraction of additional companies because now in the eyes of other Indian companies, Austin will be on their radar screen.” Who are some of Zoho's customers? Amazon, Uber, Facebook and Netflix.

While Austin celebrates another economic development victory, Montgomery County has only received more bad news on that front this week. Not only did County officials tell our super-low-energy County Council that MoCo's failing taxpayer-subsidized business incubators are hemorrhaging $1 million a year, but the short-lived CEO of the County's economic development company announced Monday he is quitting...to move to Texas. Smart man, obviously. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." You can't make this stuff up, folks.

With the "new" County Council having taken no action on highway congestion or the economic development crisis in Montgomery County after over four months in office, and their plan to hike both County employees' salaries and your property taxes bigly, could Democrat David Blair be looking at a 2022 encore run for County Executive? He lost the 2018 Democratic primary by only 77 votes, and the only other local pol not-so quietly planning to run is failed Councilman Hans Riemer, Riemer is not only literally the least-popular Council member in Montgomery County based on voting results, but is infamous for tanking the County's nighttime economy with his disastrous Nighttime Economy initiative.

Will Montgomery County business leaders (and voters) finally take the advice of Bob Ehrlich they so far have rejected: "Get dangerous," and elect a few Republicans to the Council? Or will they just keep slouching towards Gomorrah?

Montgomery County Council proposes property tax hike

4.8% tax increase

planned

The Montgomery County Council, contrary to fake news headlines, is planning to raise your property taxes this year. A required legal announcement published by the Council confirms the planned tax hike in black and white, despite County officials' false claims of no increase.

"Notice of a proposed real property tax increase," the legal notice proclaims. "The County Council of Montgomery County proposes to increase real property taxes," it states. Despite annual false claims of "holding the line on property taxes," MoCo property taxes automatically increase due to rising assessments. The only way the Council could fulfill a promise of "holding the line," or "no tax increase," would be to lower the tax rate by the amount required to offset that automatic increase.

According to the Council's required legal statement, the Council "is considering not reducing its real property tax rate enough to fully offset increasing assessments." Instead, the Council is proposing to hike property taxes by 4.8%.

But while the Council is required by law to disclose their planned tax hike in the legal announcement, County officials and their friends in the media have been falsely claiming no tax increase is proposed. "No tax increases in Montgomery County proposed budget," blared a fake headline on WTOP.com. "It’s what residents don’t see in Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich’s proposed 2020 budget that might impress them the most: no tax increases," the article falsely announced.

The Washington Post's Jennifer Barrios, who never wrote a single article covering the general election County Council At-Large race in 2018 (and unprofessionally didn't even respond to emails during the campaign), tells an even bigger whopper of a lie this morning on the Post website by claiming a tax cut. All three local media statements are entirely false, as these photographs of the actual legal tax hike announcement clearly show.

Fact Check: Because County elected officials and the County cartel-controlled media have told this lie annually for many years, Post fact-checking standards require me to award them the new "Bottomless Pinocchio" rating for those who "repeat a false claim so many times that they are, in effect, engaging in campaigns of disinformation.” 

It's baaaack: MoCo Transition Team report revives zombie ITA

Montgomery County residents stopped the County from creating an independent transit authority (ITA) twice this decade. Now the zombie body with unlimited taxing power - and a potentially County-wrecking ability to rack up unlimited debt - has been revived a third time. Hidden in County Executive Marc Elrich's Transition Team's report is a new proposal for an ITA.

The proposal summary reads:
"The Authority could have the following attributes: It could include governance for both BRT and Ride-On (and other County transit initiatives like bike trails, micro transit pilots, etc.); It would have separate bonding authority not linked to the County’s limits; It could have a 5-7 person board made up of appointees by the County (Executive and Council), the State and perhaps larger municipalities in the County; It could have authority to levy a small increase to the State gas tax or sales tax to finance County transit projects."

While you'd think it's unlikely County elected officials would dare to include the insane provision of the original ITA proposal - the inability of the elected Council to sign off on the unelected ITA's budgets, that question is not covered in the brief ITA proposal in the report.

Other major concerns were that the Council could offload massive amounts of debt from their own capital budgets to the ITA, and that the ITA would have unlimited taxing authority without any accountability to County voters. But it's no surprise that the MoCo cartel is trying to revive the ITA's corpse for a third try.

The ITA was conceived by the cartel for practical reasons foremost - specifically because it is literally the only way to fund the County's proposed $10 billion Bus Rapid Transit network, and secondarily, because the funding scheme for the Purple Line is going to drain away so much money from the future pot for transportation projects in the County. Because the ridership of BRT will be so low, there is no way to create a public-private partnership to fund it - there's no profit potential for a private partner.

Again we are seeing the overconfidence of a political cartel that thinks itself invincible after defeating their decades-old boogeyman, the Columbia Country Club. New property and trash taxes, a proposed drop in speed limits, and the creation of a monster spend-and-burn ITA that could bankrupt the County if taxpayers were held liable in the end for its debts. What will they think of next?

Trash tax: The truth about Pay-as-You-Throw Montgomery County trash scheme

Not only will Montgomery County residents be getting a property tax increase in the next fiscal year's budget, but now the Montgomery County cartel is proposing a new trash tax. That's right, from the folks who brought you a tax on the rain, and the epic 2010 energy tax hike, comes a tax on your trash. The tax is referred to by County Executive Marc Elrich's transition team as, "Pay as You Throw."

Like most Montgomery County taxes, the new trash tax is a regressive tax that will hit the poor and middle class the most. The new Pay-as-You-Throw trash tax will also hit working families and large families hard especially hard. Rich people who dine out every night, not so much. Thanks to one Bethesda citizen who stood up in recent years, the WSSC's attempt to bilk large households with illegal punitive water fees was found unconstitutional by a judge. The utility, while dragging its feet slowly and mightily, is now being forced to reduce those fees on large households.

Montgomery County's proposed trash tax is likewise unconstitutional, and targets specific residents with exorbitant fees. The more trash you generate, the higher the trash tax will be. Regular trash fees will also rise, to cover the costs of replacing residents' own trash cans with "official" trash cans. As other jurisdictions have found, the result will be a large increase in public dumping by those who either cannot afford the multiple County trash cans, fees and new trash taxes, or who find they have more trash than will fit in the number of official County cans they have. This is going to be a disaster for our streams and watersheds, which are already filled with trash thanks to the Council not making any effort to arrest those dumping and littering in large quantities.

Will residents stand up and fight the new Montgomery County trash tax? Predictably, the local media wasn't seeking out many who would after the cartel officially floated the trash tax trial balloon Thursday. A majority of taxpayers did not punish the Council after the passage of the bag tax, which utterly failed to reduce plastic bag use, and was proven to be a revenue grab only. If you don't fight the trash tax, you're going to get the trash tax.

Why is the trash tax being floated? Trapped politically, and by activist-attorney Robin Ficker's successful property tax cap approved by voters, the Council nevertheless wants to keep spending insane amounts of money on their developer sugar daddies and other cronies. As they've forced the rich to flee to lower-tax jurisdictions in our area, revenue has continued to plummet, while spending only increases annually.

They want to keep giving massive raises to County employees, as well. I strongly support honoring labor contracts; a deal is a deal. But County Executive Marc Elrich was informed soon after his victory about the bleak budget and revenue forecast. So, while I agree strongly with his positions on development, I was surprised at the size of the pay increases he agreed to with union leaders. Now those wages and benefits have to be paid, but there's little political room for a massive property tax increase. How to raise taxes massively, and disguise it as a fee?

Enter the trash tax. But, in short, the trash tax itself belongs in the trash.

American Legion Bridge shutdown paralyzes D.C. region with no alternative Potomac crossing

Total victory, 

total vindication for

new bridge advocates

The Capital Beltway Inner Loop lanes on the American Legion Bridge reopened about two hours before the start of rush hour this morning. An accident that caused a fuel tanker truck to flip over and spill fuel on the highway shut those lanes down for about 12 hours. The bridge shutdown had region-wide effects, with many Virginia-to-Maryland commuters spending up to four or more hours in traffic jams. With Montgomery County politicians having blocked the long-planned Potomac River crossing north of the Legion bridge for decades, drivers were forced to seek any short cut or workaround they could find. Problem is, there weren't any.

Already, the Legion Bridge meltdown is being ranked as one of the D.C. region's Top 5 traffic disasters of all time. But imagine if this had occurred during a terror attack or other disaster. Sadly, the local media - out of political bias or simple ignorance of history - largely did not inform their viewers, listeners and readers about exactly why they were stuck in Carmageddon 2019: The failure to complete the D.C. region's freeway system, and most-specifically, Montgomery County and Maryland's childish refusal to build the new Potomac bridge to appease radical anti-car ideologues and developer sugar daddies who need traffic congestion to justify high-density development in the suburbs.

Nobody could take a lap around the Beltway yesterday, but this morning, I'm taking a victory lap as the only Maryland candidate in the 2018 elections who was not only advocating for the new Potomac River crossing, but made it a centerpiece of my campaign.

Simply put: I told you so.

And the tens of thousands of you who voted for me for Montgomery County Council At-Large, along with more than 6000 additional Democrats who voted for me across party lines, can also take a victory lap this morning. You weren't just tired of sitting in traffic; you did your homework before voting. And this morning, like me, you can celebrate total victory and total vindication.

Just as I was the only candidate representing you, the taxpayer and commuter, in the election, now I am sadly perhaps the only journalist who is telling the truth this morning. The truth about our "leaders" failing us by blocking a bridge critical to commuting, national security and Montgomery County's economic development - including the need for direct access to Dulles International Airport. But also the truth that yesterday's fiasco produced clear winners and losers.

And as my readers and my 2018 election supporters know, sometimes it's better to lose with a winner than to win with losers.

Winners

Robert Dyer

The local media and a number of community organizations colluded with the Montgomery County cartel to prevent any coverage of my campaign and platform. But the fact is, I was the sole County Council candidate who ran on the priority of building the new Potomac crossing, and completing Montgomery County's master plan highway system. I'm looking very smart this morning.

It's safe to say there is extreme voter remorse among low-information Montgomery County voters this morning. Those voters were poorly-served by the very media that claims it informs the public, and prevents democracy from "dying in darkness." Casual voters need to know now that they must begin to take their responsibility more seriously - if the Washington Post and other local media aren't informing you about the choices on your ballot, you need to sit down for an hour and research the candidates online before voting. And that having every seat on the County Council won by a Democrat every election kept you in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours last night. A hyperpartisan victory is ultimately an empty and Pyrrhic victory, as yesterday proved.

Robert Dyer voters

'Nuff said.

New Potomac River crossing advocates

While I've been alone as a candidate and activist on our side of the river in pushing for the new Potomac River crossing, the bridge doesn't lack for high-profile advocates. Virginia Senator Mark Warner, the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, former Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation Chair Bob Buchanan, and former Virginia Govs. Bob McDonnell and Terry McAuliffe are among those who have supported a new crossing in recent years.

Losers

Drivers

D.C region commuters, especially those who live in Montgomery County.

Montgomery County Council

Each member of the current Montgomery County Council (and the previous Councils this decade) has openly opposed a new Potomac River crossing in their public statements. They should be facing the wrath of their constituents today via phone, social media and email, and at the ballot box in 2022. They are almost entirely to blame for yesterday's catastrophe.

Gov. Larry Hogan

Incredibly, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan - a real estate developer, no less - has come out against a new Potomac River bridge. While claiming reducing traffic congestion is a key priority for his administration, Hogan instead became the latest governor in Annapolis to let the phone go to voicemail when Virginia's top leaders have called to discuss a new crossing.

Hogan's claim that the bridge is cost-prohibitive is simply false; the bridge and required highway extension from I-370 can be built privately as a toll facility, at virtually no expense to taxpayers. Our County's structural budget deficit shows what the costs of not building it are - year after year.

Like many bridge opponents, Hogan has made the suggestion of instead "improving" the existing Legion bridge. The problem is, even a magical 16-lane American Legion bridge would have been closed for the same number of hours yesterday. We need more crossings. Period.

New Potomac crossing opponents

Developer-funded bridge opponents ranging from the Coalition for Smarter Growth to Greater Greater Washington to the Rockefeller Foundation aren't looking too "smart" this morning. I would love to have seen them walk from car-to-car in the backups of commuters desperately trying to get home to family and dinner last night, and pass out brochures opposing the new bridge. And to witness the response of drivers!

Montgomery County ends veteran homelessness? Not quite

WTOP article parrots Montgomery County Council
claim that no veteran is homeless in MoCo in 2015

"All homeless veterans have found housing in Montgomery Co.," a WTOP.com headline declared on December 15, 2015. "No veteran is homeless in Montgomery County, officials announce," a Washington Post headline blared six days later. Montgomery County had "found a home for every homeless veteran," NBC4's Jim Handly assured viewers at 5:45 PM the same day. Then-Councilmember George Leventhal was widely quoted and toasted by obsequious local media, just months after he had been condemned by homeless advocates for his attempt to criminalize panhandling by the homeless on County streets. He and the Council were understandably seeking to change the narrative.

Change it Montgomery County did - with eager help from their cheerleaders and Fellow Travelers in the local media. While actual homeless advocates working in the community would be the first to acknowledge the claim was impossible, and that it was based on a belief that there would be available housing units in the future as homeless veterans were identified, that is not how the County's elected officials and their buddies in the local news media promoted it to the public.

Montgomery County government "Paperless Airplane"
headline from January 2016

The shameful, false claim that there are no more homeless veterans in Montgomery County was trotted out again by County officials Monday. A press release boasted that "Montgomery County was one of the first communities to reach 'functional zero' for veterans’ homelessness in December 2015. Since January 2015, Montgomery County has permanently ended homelessness for 148 veterans." No one in the local media pushed back on the false claim this time, either.

I've now confirmed that there are indeed homeless veterans on the streets of Montgomery County, and ironically, I came across one due to the failure of our County Council to provide a functional master plan highway system. Last week, I spent 90 minutes traveling between Bethesda and Shady Grove due to an accident-related backup on the Beltway and I-270. Along with many other frustrated drivers, I exited to Old Georgetown Road, to begin a red-light-at-every-intersection crawl north.

Lo and behold, when I arrived at the intersection of Old Georgetown and Rockville Pike, there was a homeless man panhandling in the median. He was holding a sign that read, "Homeless Veteran." We all know he is not the only one. But the County is putting a $10 billion Bus Rapid Transit boondoggle, a $1 million-a-year Ride On Extra carrying one passenger in each direction, tax cuts for developers, and millions in kickbacks to supporters and campaign donors in the "non-profit" community ahead of our great veterans.

Fact check: Although the latest false claim easily earns a Four Pinocchio rating, the ongoing mendacity of our corrupt elected officials has required me to follow the Washington Post in adopting the new "Bottomless Pinocchio," which it describes as "a new rating for a false claim repeated over and over again."

Rating: BOTTOMLESS PINOCCHIO

Ocado skips across the pond, and Montgomery County, in U.S. HQ search

Just months after Montgomery County's humiliating-but-self-inflicted defeat in the Amazon HQ 2 sweepstakes, even Amazon's enemies are passing on MoCo in favor of Northern Virginia. Ocado, a British partner of Kroger that specializes in online grocery sales systems, announced yesterday it will conduct its search for its future U.S. corporate headquarters from gleaming offices in beautiful and booming Tysons. CEO Luke Jensen said he was "delighted" with the Tysons choice, and that the office would open in April.

Ocado has a service called Prime Now, that delivers groceries you order online within 2 hours. If the order is small enough, it might be delivered by scooter. Kroger - which owns Harris Teeter and Ralph's - has partnered with Ocado to prepare for the increasingly-competitive world of online grocery shopping, where its greatest rival will be Crystal City's Amazon.

Northern Virginia is becoming a hub for so many things, it's hard for our super-low-energy Montgomery County Council to even keep track, much less compete. But grocery firms are one of the latest; Lidl chose Arlington County for its U.S. headquarters in the most recent example before this. One can reasonably predict the high-tax, low-energy grass of bedroom community Montgomery County won't exactly look greener from Ocado's offices high above the bustling streets of Tysons.

This is just the latest humiliation for Montgomery County officials this week. It follows another disastrous job growth report (there wasn't any), and Montgomery County's leading economic development official returning empty-handed from an expensive SXSW junket. What Montgomery's selling...they just don't want it. They just don't want it.

Moribund Montgomery iced out of ICEE HQ decision by Tennessee

Montgomery County has again been on the sidelines as dozens of major corporate headquarters have made relocation decisions in early 2019. Moribund MoCo, now at rock bottom in the D.C. region in virtually every economic development indicator, just got iced out of another one. While our corrupt elected officials were dozing at the switch, high-energy Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee closed a deal for the ICEE headquarters. The beloved frozen beverage firm is moving its California HQ to La Vergne, in Rutherford County Tennessee.

"It's such a business-friendly spot," ICEE President Dan Fachner said of La Vergne, according to the local Daily News Journal. The deal also includes a distribution center, and a requirement to create 207 additional jobs with an average salary of $60,152 within the coming five years. In exchange for a relatively-paltry $690,275 tax break, La Vergne, Rutherford County and Tennessee will get a $10.3 million project, and all of the tax revenue and collateral economic benefits.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R)

"ICEE's decision to bring its corporate headquarters to La Vergne highlights how Tennessee's low taxes, skilled workforce and quality of life continue to attract world-class businesses, said Bob Rolfe, the commissioner of the state's Department of Economic and Community Development," the Daily News Journal reported.

Once again, transportation infrastructure also played a big role in the decision. While not mentioned in media coverage of the ICEE deal, the City of La Vergne upgraded Mason Road and its utilities near Bain Drive during the year-long ICEE HQ decision process in 2018. And what do you know? That's exactly where ICEE is going to locate its HQ and distribution center.

Contrast that show of infrastructure investment and goodwill by Tennessee to the moronic decision by the Montgomery County Council to cancel the biggest infrastructure project in White Flint on the very day that Amazon executives were touring White Flint for their HQ 2 search. Along with the enablers in our obsequious and apologist local media, it couldn't be more clear why Montgomery has lost every single major corporate headquarters contest over the last two decades.

Google Maps image shows 13-minute trip to
the closest airport from the future ICEE site

The La Vergne site also sits right off of Interstate 24, and along a major rail line. Smyrna Airport is only 13 minutes away from the future ICEE property, and the major Nashville International Airport is only 18 minutes away, according to Google Maps. Meanwhile, Montgomery County officials have actively blocked any attempt to build a new Potomac River crossing that would provide direct access to Dulles International Airport, leaving all major airports a long, congested drive for busy executives - which is one reason those executives always pass over MoCo in location decisions. In fact, Montgomery lost the Discovery HQ to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Discovery chose a site with similar direct airport and interstate access.

The brain freeze of an ICEE isn't nearly
as cold as the one you'll get from the latest
Montgomery County Council tax increase
this year

While Montgomery County's corrupt, developer-controlled Council and Planning Board were busy converting MoCo's office parks to residential housing for their developer sugar daddies, Tennessee state and local officials were readying theirs for household-name tenants and success. While states like Tennessee and Virginia add highway capacity (and high-wage jobs and corporations follow), Montgomery County politicians in Rockville and Annapolis are aggressively fighting Gov. Larry Hogan's Express Lanes plan for the Beltway and I-270.

An ICEE chill settles over Montgomery County,
now the moribund bedroom community for booming
job centers elsewhere in the D.C. region

“With our top-rated school district, affordable cost of living and strong local economy, companies like The ICEE Company are choosing to relocate and put down roots in our community,” Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron said in a statement. Contrast that with Montgomery County's rapidly-declining public schools, high cost of living and record-high taxes, and moribund local economy. It's not a winning formula, to say the least.

The clock runs out on the
Montgomery County cartel

The ICEE victory again shows how attracting one major employer has a multiplier effect. Attracting Nissan to that same part of Tennessee decades ago fueled explosive economic growth in the area. Having traveled to Nashville many, many times as a professional musician, I've been surprised at how many people I've encountered there over the years are employed by Nissan or Nissan-related businesses. Some of them live in wonderful, new suburban neighborhoods developed as a result of the Nissan facilities. 520 new Nissan-related auto parts manufacturing jobs have been added in Smyrna in the last year alone, the Daily News Journal reported. Nashville also recently became home to the parent company of Hardee's and Carl's Jr,. another corporate HQ that MoCo didn't even compete for.

We won't attract that first breakthrough corporate headquarters with the super-low-energy, Berzerkley-inspired, anti-business "new" County Council that took office just over three months ago. They haven't acted on a single one of the major crises Montgomery County faces in the many weeks since. Their press release output in recent weeks features no Bill Lee-style announcements of new high-wage jobs, but instead highlights an "Islamophobia" resolution, an outdoor patio smoking ban, and a "Racial Equity and Social Justice Policy."

Res ipsa loquitur, indeed.

Yext Rosslyn announcement pounds final nail into MoCo's tech job coffin

Northern VA declared

"next Silicon Valley"

after tech firm follows

Amazon's 25000 jobs

into the Old Dominion

There's nothing new about Northern Virginia destroying Montgomery County when it comes to economic development, nor about tech firms choosing the "birthplace of presidents" and D.C. over moribund, high-tax-and-regulation MoCo. But Montgomery's sad role as pinata in our regional rivalry just got weaker than ever last week, when New York-based tech firm Yext announced it would open a new office in Rosslyn with 500 high-wage jobs. On the heels of Virginia's victory in the nation's biggest job sweepstakes - Amazon's HQ2 that will open in Crystal City - the Yext move now has national power brokers officially declaring Northern Virginia the "next Silicon Valley."

Rosslyn's latest big "get" follows other new arrivals to Arlington's business hub with monumental views like the world headquarters of Nestle, Corporate Executive Board, Gerber and Deloitte. Not to mention all the other HQs NoVa has nabbed in recent years, including Hilton Hotels, IntelSat, Volkswagen and Northrop. Yext has leased the top three floors of 1101 Wilson Boulevard, a Class A tower with breathtaking views of the Potomac River and Capitol dome, among other landmarks, according to the Washington Post. Most embarrassing of all, the Yext deal wasn't even a deal - Virginia is paying them no tax incentives, Yext founder Howard Lerman tells the Post. Meanwhile, Montgomery County hasn't attracted a major corporate headquarters in two decades.

Capital One tower in Tysons,
the tallest office building in
the D.C. region

Montgomery has a national reputation as being hostile to business, a high-cost location to do business from, and having an ideological aversion to completing its master plan highway system - or adding Express Lanes to jammed interstates (unlike Virginia). How bad is it? Bethesda-based Donohoe Companies' CEO Chris Bruch had to chastise Montgomery politicians, who are furiously trying to block Gov. Larry Hogan's Express Lanes proposal for I-270 and the Beltway, in a letter published by the Post last weekend.

In other counties and cities, local officials are usually allied with business leaders like Bruch to complete major infrastructure projects. Here? Welcome to Clowntown, U.S.A.!

But our horrible reputation has compounded many past defeats with a major one. All major local jurisdictions have been competing for some time to be seen as a national tech hub. The Amazon and Yext victories have now led to that contest ending with the official recognition that Northern Virginia has won: game, set, match: Virginia.

"Northern Virginia's status as an East Coast tech hub got a major lift last week," wrote the Post's Aaron Gregg of the Yext announcement. "Northern Virginia is a reservoir of untapped talent," Lerman told Gregg. "I think it's the quiet next Silicon Valley." Gregg notes that the hits taken by Pentagon contractors in the Obama-era knucklehead budget battles on Capitol Hill led Virginia officials to turn to the private sector. "They have succeeded with a string of influential corporations setting up offices and headquarters in places such as Rosslyn and Tysons."

How much did we lose when the Montgomery County Council fumbled the Amazon golden ticket last year? 25,000 new jobs, $4 billion in lost wages, and $12 billion in collateral economic growth that Amazon would have provided. None of that even includes the tax revenue that would have accrued to Montgomery and Maryland.

Although it's unclear if our corrupt elected officials are capable of being embarrassed, particularly when they are being coddled and protected by an obsequious local press and surrounded by "Yes Men," we now know that Amazon was watching and listening to their public statements and actions very closely last year. Anti-Amazon and anti-business sentiments made by councilmembers last year were topped off by the capstone of the Council canceling the biggest infrastructure project near our proposed Amazon site in White Flint - while the Amazon executives were touring White Flint. It doesn't get any dumber than that, folks.

"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term," Amazon said in its official statement announcing they were withdrawing their New York proposal. Yes, the comments and behavior of our "local elected officials" were indeed given heavy weight by Amazon. Anti-business sentiments and a bizarre, radical opposition to needed new roads were clearly not the winning message.

“A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said after Amazon's pull-out there, but he could have been talking about the Montgomery County Council, too. Nobody knows Montgomery's reputation for being hostile to business better than Yext founder Lerman, who grew up in Vienna. That irony echoes the Amazon decision as well, where one of the key decision makers for Amazon in the HQ2 search was Holly Sullivan, former President of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation. Sullivan knew our elected officials very well, and was very familiar with our business climate and failing infrastructure and traffic congestion. After all, she had to drive around it herself for several years! She knew exactly what Amazon would get by selecting Montgomery County, and...egads!!! Yikes!

Fortunately for New York City, at the end of the day, they're still New York City and an economic powerhouse even without Amazon. At the end of the day, Montgomery County is still...moribund.

Derwood, Shady Grove residents want MCPS bus depot out of neighborhood as promised

"Derwood deserves better

- now!" residents say of 

issue County officials swept

under political rug

Former Montgomery County executive Ike Leggett, the County Council and Montgomery County Public Schools managed to sweep the highly-flammable hot potato issue of the MCPS Shady Grove school bus depot under the political rug ahead of the 2018 election season. But residents nearby the depot are growing impatient, having been told over a decade ago that the facility would be gone by now. Many are residents who bought or rented new homes built right around the depot itself in the first phase of "smart growth" construction, as Leggett termed the development due to its proximity to Metro and MARC rail service at Shady Grove.

At least 340 of those residents have signed a MoveOn online petition asking new County Executive Marc Elrich to take action on the relocation of the depot. Residents in Aspen Hill and Rockville were up in arms just a few years ago, when it was revealed that the County Council had approved the plan and agreement with developers at Shady Grove without actually identifying a new site for the bus depot before doing so.

This led to protests and tense community meetings, including one where former Councilmember George Leventhal admitted to the crowd that he had voted "Yes" on the Shady Grove scheme without actually reading the text of the bill first. The County tried to move it to a historic African-American site in Rockville on Mannakee Street first. When that triggered outcry from the community, they secretly purchased another site in East Rockville where there are a large number of African-American residents. That caused a second round of protests.

Avery Road property owned by MCPS was also considered, with the idea of moving a juvenile education facility to the former English Manor site in Aspen Hill to make way for a depot, reigniting a firestorm of opposition in that community. Councilmember Hans Riemer advocated studying a former landfill site in Olney, before the whole issue was tabled as election season neared. Rockville, Aspen Hill and Olney residents emphatically stated the depot should remain where it is, putting them on a collision course with the interests of residents around the existing site. Most elected officials realize that any vote on either keeping the depot where it is, or moving it, could be a career-ending one.

With the new advocacy effort from Shady Grove and Derwood, County officials may be forced once again to reopen this "third rail" issue. The County is facing not only angry constituents who live near the current and potential bus depot sites, but also legal action by the developers with whom they had made the agreement years ago. Riemer famously stated almost three years ago that he and the Council "taken ownership of the problem."

MoCo fumbles three more: Blackboard, HalioDX, Idemia headed to Virginia

Montgomery County officials have blown it yet again. Just three months after failing to bring 25,000 Amazon jobs to our moribund County, they fumbled the ball on three more corporate headquarters sweepstakes. Blackboard, a high-profile education technology firm, will relocate its Washington, D.C. global headquarters to Plaza America in Reston. Biotech firm HalioDX chose Richmond over North Carolina, in its final North American headquarters decision. And Paris-based Idemia, a biometric augmented identity firm, is relocating its North American headquarters from Boston to Reston, as well.

The moves will bring hundreds of additional high-wage jobs to Fairfax County, and Idemia has promised to add 90 new high-wage jobs to the new HQ. Why did both firms choose Reston over Montgomery County? The answers are the same as usual: lower business costs, and superior infrastructure access in Virginia.

Blackboard CEO and President Bill Ballhaus cited their new location's proximity to Dulles International Airport, which as I've been noting for years, has the variety and frequency of international flights and destinations international businesspeople require. Unlike Northern Virginia, which has implemented several infrastructure projects to speed travel, Montgomery County has refused to build the new Potomac River crossing that would provide direct and quick access to Dulles Airport. In fact, the Montgomery County Council is actively trying to further sabotage our outdated and incomplete transportation system, refusing to build the M-83 Highway and Montrose Parkway East, and promising to lower speed limits on all major commuter routes to 25 MPH - and secondary and neighborhood roads to 15 MPH.

The failure to attract Idemia's HQ was a humiliating defeat for a County Council that has claimed it would make Montgomery County a cybersecurity hub. Instead, Virginia's Secretary of Commerce Brian Ball was the one crowing about the Old Dominion bolstering its dominance in that field with the addition of Idemia. "We rely on innovative companies like Idemia to maintain Virginia’s position as a U.S. leader in this industry,” Ball said in a statement.

HalioDX will join almost 70 biotech firms, laboratories and manufacturing facilities at the VA Bio+Tech Park in Richmond. It's a sad reminder that Virginia is now not only handing our County Council their [briefcases] in every other economic sector, but are rapidly reaching parity with Montgomery's biotech sector. Thanks to past County leaders who served before our elected offices were seized by the Montgomery County cartel in 2002, we had a promising biotech niche in the region. Now, it's only a matter of time before even those firms begin to relocate to Virginia, once they have the critical mass of qualified workers and government incentives.

The canary in the Montgomery County economic development coal mine has been deceased for some time. Our Council not only doesn't know anything about how to attract high-wage jobs and corporate headquarters, but couldn't act even if they did. Their developer sugar daddies, who fund the campaigns of every Council member, don't want corporate headquarters taking up valuable land they could use to profit from luxury apartments.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam hasn't had much reason to smile in recent weeks, and I reckon he appreciates Montgomery County turning his frown upside down reliably several times a month. His two immediate predecessors were legendary for openly mocking Montgomery County officials for their pro-tax, anti-business ideology. By all indications, comedy hour is just getting started at 100 Maryland Avenue.

Mass layoffs announced at Rockville company

Centerra Group, LLC, a government safety and security contractor located at 11555 Rockville Pike, has informed the state of Maryland it will conduct mass layoffs of its employees March 31, 2019. The firm filed a WARN notice with the state regarding the layoffs yesterday.

Eighty-seven employees are slated to lose their jobs, according to the notice filing. This is another blow to the anemic job activity in the White Flint area, which was capped off by the humiliating loss in the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes. Montgomery County's economy grows more moribund with each passing hour, yet our County Council hasn't taken a single action to address the economic development crisis in the first two months of its term. Heckuva job, Brownie!